'Kill switch' dropped from Vista — Microsoft is to withdraw an anti-piracy tool from Windows Vista, which disables the operating system when invoked, following customer complaints. — The so-called "kill switch" is designed to prevent users with illegal copies of Vista from using certain features.

With SP1, Microsoft plans to ditch the Vista "kill switch" — The case for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 just got a lot stronger. — When SP1 ships sometime in early 2008, it will strip away one of Vista's most annoying features and remove one of the most persistent objections to Vista's adoption.

Google Announces Fastest Growing Search Terms — Yesterday Yahoo announced its top search trends for 2007. Google's list traditionally come later in December (here's last years list), but today VP of Search and User Experience Marissa Mayer revealed the "fastest rising U.S. search terms" on the Today Show.

Secret mailing list rocks Wikipedia — The Register Desktop Support Seminar . Live & Online 11th December (10am PST) — On the surface, all is well in Wikiland. Just last week, a headline from The San Francisco Chronicle told the world that "Wikipedia's Future Is Still Looking Up," …

Google's Infrastructure is its Strategic Advantage — Back in the day, when PC stocks were kings on Wall Street, a pesky college kid named Michael Dell figured out that he could do an end run around the then-established PC makers by developing a smarter way of making and selling boxes.

Chat With AIM Users From Gmail — After introducing colored labels earlier this week, Google now seems to be rolling out a web-based client for AOL Instant Messenger chatting as part of Gmail. You will still need an AIM account, as Google Talk and AOL are not joining forces, but Google is merely using the Open AIM framework.

Kenmos and Nano-Op supply LED notebook BLUs to Dell and Apple — Kenmos Technology and Taiwan Nano Electro-Optical Technology (Nano-Op) have become suppliers of notebook-use LED backlight units (BLUs) for Dell and Apple, with the makers' shipments to the segment expected to soar, according to industry sources.

LA Times invests in Mixx, integrates social news site — The Los Angeles Times has partnered with Mixx, a social news website, to give readers more input in the news they read. — It has also said it will start using technology from Aggregrate Knowledge, a Silicon Valley company …

Where the hell is Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook? — It's just totally amazing to me how badly Facebook is handling the PR around its new Beacon system. — This story is NOT going away. Even if this particular story goes away, there's a bad taste in our mouths because Facebook tried to do something that clearly wasn't for the users.